Mazoku of My Dreams

written by Beedoo!

Chapter 1: Road Rage! Yet Another Quest Begins!

"I can't believe they ran out of food again! Especially after doing it last night, too!" the sorceress complained. "How completely rude of them!"

"Yeah. You would think in a port town they would be able to catch more fish sooner than that."

"Well, that just puts a damper on my whole day," she sighed. "I hope there's some monsters or bandits on this road 'cause I really want to fireball something now. Geez. First that expensive sword, then the all-you-can-eat runs out of food, then they're not restocked for the morning and we have to travel on half-empty stomachs! This whole week isn't shaping up to be very good."

Gourry shrugged. "But we did get another Sword of Light. That's good."

Lina humphed. "Wasn't so good for my purse. That was more than half of the bandit treasure I gathered over the past couple of months! Boy, I sure haven't been getting very lucky lately-hey!" A fast-moving streak passed the two travelers, barely missing Lina on her side of the road. "Why you little jerk! You're gonna get it for that one, buddy! FIREBALL!"

The flaming sphere made a gentle underhand arc as it came down in the path of the streak, knocking the victim back with a moderate-sized explosion. Lina stormed up to the man as he lay in the road, smothering the burning parts of his beige clothes and cape in the dust. "Whoever you are, you had better have a damn good reason for nearly running me down back there! You're lucky my aim is off thismorning or you'd be fried to a cinder!"

The traveler sighed and turned to meet her angry gaze. "Having a bad morning, are we, Lina?"

Lina balked at the familiar voice. Her attitude changed immediately. "Zel! Fancy running into you here!"

Zelgaddis snorted good-naturedly. "I almost literally had to run into you... You two were taking up the whole road."

"Wait a minute, are you calling me fat?!"

Using his better judgement, the chimaera decided to refrain from answering that. "It's good to see you again. Hello, Gourry."

"Heya, Zel. Lina, you tried to blow up Zel? Why?"

The sorceress shrugged innocently. "I didn't know it was him." She looked the chimaeric swordsman over, noting that he still wore his shielding hood and facemask. "No cure yet, huh?" she said sympathetically as the three began walking together.

"No."

"I bet you have a good lead, though. Otherwise, you wouldn't be going so fast."

He gave her a rare smile. "Can't put anything past you."

"So where are you off to at breakneck speed, mowing down every lovely sorcery genius in your path?"

"It's a place called Tel-" A horse's neigh interrupted him. Two white stallions charged around the bend, straight for them.

"Look out!" Zel shouted, shoving Lina and Gourry out of the way.

A high-pitched voice carried to them as one of the riders stood up in the stirrups. "Hold it right there, evildoers! Justice comes swiftly to-whoa! Easy, horsie! Whoa! Whoa!! No brakes!" The threesome stared with eyes as large as plates as the horse finally skidded to a sideways halt, the small black-haired rider falling to the ground as the momentum jerked her out of the saddle. She groaned slightly, trying to free her foot from the stirrup it was still caught in. "I'm okay! *ahem* You who ambush...oof... travelers on this free road, prepare for battle, for Justice has...errf!...arrived and you have...grrr...nowhere left to go!" At the word 'go,' the horse began a gentle trot to rejoin its companion, dragging the crusading princess behind. "Wait, horsie! Not you!"

"Errr... was that..." Lina started.

Zel chuckled. "She hasn't changed a bit either."

Gourry nodded. "Sure hasn't."

The second horse cantered up to the group, its larger, broader rider calling a greeting. "Ho there, travelers! Please stop this quarrel! Violence is not the way to solve things!"

"Prince Phil!" Lina called, waving.

"Why, Miss Lina Inverse! Imagine you being here!"

The young woman put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, imagine it. Once again, fate throws us together at the same spot at the same time."

Phil cast the three of them a cursory glance. "And hello to you, Mister Gourry, and to you, Mister Zelgaddis. You don't appear to be under attack... what was that loud explosion we heard?"

Lina scratched the back of her head. "Oh, just me, blowing off some steam. In Zel's general direction. Hi, Amelia!"

"Hi, Miss Lina," the younger girl sighed, leading her horse back to where the group stood. "Guess I messed it up this time too..."

"You can say that again," the redhead scolded. "What are you two doing here anyway?"

The princess brightened. "Daddy and I are on our way back from a diplomatic meeting in Gandora. What are all of you doing here?"

Lina thought for a second. "It's kind of a strange coincidence. We just met up with Zelgaddis not five minutes ago."

"It must mean something!" Amelia decided adamantly. "Coincidences like this don't happen without a reason! We should go on a quest... the four of us, just like before! Oh, can I go, Daddy?"

Phil thought it over. "I don't see why you shouldn't. After all, it isn't every day you meet up with your friends, getting ready to go do great justice!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... what quest?" Lina demanded. "What justice? We just happened to meet here... Who says it means anything?"

Amelia pouted at her. "Don't you find this a little weird. We must have been brought here for a reason. There must be someone around here who needs our help."

Gourry nodded, finally adding to the conversation. "Maybe so. I mean, this happening right after I get a new sword and everything..."

"Our mission went just fine, so it isn't us, and it's probably not either of the provinces here..."

"And Gourry and I are just dandy, so that leaves..." Lina glanced around. "Zelgaddis?" Gourry tapped her shoulder and pointed down the road. The chimaera had taken the opportunity to get out while he could, and was already making his way down the road. "Zelgaddis!" Lina shouted at him.

"Mister Zelgaddis, wait for us!" Amelia jogged after him, leading her horse by the reins.

Philionel guffawed as he watched the motley group go on their way. "Good luck, all of you!" he shouted before continuing on his way home. "Have fun!"

"Mister Zelgaddis, wait! We're coming with you!"

Zel quickened his step. "Go home with your father, Amelia," he told her firmly.

"Come on, Zel! We can help you search! You've got a better chance of finding it with all of us looking, right?" Lina insisted, keeping pace with him on his other side.

"Wrong," the stone man insisted. "You'll just slow me down."

"You were just about to tell us where you were going before, Zel. Some new clue, right?" Gourry pried.

"Yeah, Zel.. geez, this could be it, and if this really IS it, we want to be there to see it! We'll throw a big party for you and everything!"

"No. No. No."

"Humor us, Zel. We're your friends, and we want to do something special for you. Is that such a bad thing?" Lina stared him down.

He sighed. "I suppose nothing's going to happen to Telgen City for the next few days. But no Dragon Slave, you!" he ordered, tapping Lina on the nose.

She held two fingers on her right hand up and winked at him. "On my honor."

"Daddy and I passed a little village early thismorning, near the crossroads... We can probably get there by nightfall," Amelia volunteered.

"Great! Sounds like a plan, right, Zel?"

The chimaera sighed. "Fine..."

Lina and Gourry dropped to the rear, chatting quietly. Amelia took her customary place at his side, but the two of them were silent for quite a while before she broke the uncomfortable silence. "It's really good to see you again, Mister Zelgaddis."

Zel paused a moment before responding to her. "You too, Amelia."

Another silent moment.

"I just want you to know that we won't let you down."

"Let me down?"

"Your cure. We won't stop until we find it."

He sighed deeply. They'd more or less pushed him into this. "Amelia, I really don't-"

"My, my... look who we have here?"

Zelgaddis clenched his eyes shut. "Oh no... not him..."

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Disclaimer in short: Slayers and related characters aren't mine. Mayaki and various other incidental characters are.

Thanks for reading! Please leave me some feedback; I live and thrive on criticism! (not to mention, I'm a perfectionist. ;)

Special thanks to my chat-niece/beta-reader Dubble, who puts up with both my typos and idiosyncracies!